We're not big on giving store-bought cards when a date on a calendar says we should. Instead, I spent Valentine's Day morning on a photo safari looking for "hearts in nature." You should try this with your family. It takes a while to refocus - to stop and smell the roses, or see the hearts, as the case may be, but once you do, you'd be surprised at what you find. I found about twenty images that I downloaded, set to music and sent as an email to Bill. I love doing that sort of thing.
I also love being pampered. My sweetheart took Brendan and me to Istanbul, Turkey for a long weekend, where we stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel! Now, I'm bound and deteremined not to become a hotel snob, but you should treat yourself at least once to their five-star, white-glove treatment. they paid special attention to Brendan. There was a birthday cake waiting for him the first evening when we got back. There was popcorn and coke the next night. And when he solved a 3-D puzzle they gave him at check-in, they gave him another cake!
The hotel used to be a jail until 1983, so the walls were nice and thick, and we couldn't hear our neighbors like we could when we stayed at the Gaylord resort in Grapevine. I'm glad Brendan is a heavy sleeper! The Four Seasons has been beautifully converted, and is situated in the heart of the old town - just where I like to be. With the window open, we could hear the call to prayers from several mosques in the area - five times every day.
This is the most exotic, different city break we've taken. I was prepared to be wary. I didn't know how much they'd like having Christians, and obviously Americans, with Bill's white tennis shoes standing out like a sore thumb, in their city. But I was pleasantly surprised. It could have been because this is off-season and the shopkeepers are hard up for tourists to come spend their money in their shops. (They could sell ice to an Eskimo!) But people greeted us, smiled, and engaged us in conversation. Mostly it WAS a ploy to get us to come to their store or restaurant, but one gentleman stopped while we were waiting for our tour bus, and in very broken English, which he was proud to use, said, "Welcome to Istanbul. We're glad you're here. Have a long, good life." Then he walked away.
Istanbul is old! The Greeks called it Byzantium. The Romans made it their "new Rome" when they conquered the Greeks and called it Constatinople. The Aya Sofia was built in AD 535 by Justininan the Great. Even though it has been damaged by numerous earthquakes, and the dome has fallen in twice, it has remains of beautiful mosaics of Mary, Jesus and John the Baptist. The turks made it into a mosque when they conquered the city in 1453, and renamed the city to Istanbul. But I'm curious to know why they left so many Christian symbols.
Besides the Aya Sofia, we went into the Blue Mosque, so named for the way the sun illuminates all the blue tiles inside. We took a tour/cruise around town, to the Egyptian Bazaar, and down the Bosphorous - the river that divides city and Europe from Asia. It is a major thoroughfair for ships to get to and from the Black Sea and Mediterranean Sea. We also explored the Cistern, a huge underground holding tank built by the Romans to store the city's water supply. They brought the water from 19 KM away via aqueducts and stored it here. Those Romans were smart! But they didn't expect people to see the cistern. They built it from borrowed columns from old buildings whose capitols don't match, heaven forbid, and a few stone medusa heads for good measure. Fish live in the few feet of water that remain.
No visit would be complete without going to the Grand Bazaar! This is what I came for. But I was disappointed with it. The Egyptian Bazaar was more like a covered market, more what I had in mind, with it's piles of spices and Turkish delight. The Grand Bazaar was just an old indoor mall with concentrated shopkeepers coming at you from every direction. After half a dozen carpet merchants tried to drag us into their stores, we finally succombed to one of the less pushy ones. They offered us apple tea and sodas. We sat on couches and looked at lots of rugs. I really just wanted a hall runner, but Bill helped me change my mind and we walked out with a 5x7, double-knotted, naturally-died carpet in tans, reds and sages. I love it! But when we stepped out of the shop, the merchants mobbed us. "Now it's my turn!" they all said. It took two of us to carry the bag, and we made a beeline for the exit. Needless to say, I didn't get to see a lot of the Grand Bazaar, but I think we got enough of it.
The last night, we went to a dinner show, to see cultural dances from around Turkey. The audience was a veritable United Nations assortment. There were at least 25 countries represented. I knew they would have some belly dancers, along with the traditional dances, and whirling dervishes. There were a few other families there, so I expected it to be a family show. However, it featured 3 belly dancers – all very talented. And toward the end of the meal, the Greeks at one table moved their dishes, had the ladies dance on their table and tucked bills into their bras! Let me tell you, the Greeks, by far, know how to party hardest!
We've finally learned how to explore a city at a leisurely pace, without the need to see everything. I know we only scratched the surface, but we had a really nice time. I'd love to go back and see more mosques, the Topkapi Palace that was right next to us and we totally ignored, and the archeology and mosaic museums, but maybe with a different crowd. I can only drag my guys to so many museums and churches before they rebel. It's definitely at the top of my list, and staying at the Four Seasons didn't hurt the experience either.
